Collabora: Denmark’s Office Test Halted by Ministerial Merger
Danish Ministry Evaluation of Collabora Office Suspended After Government Merger
The Tech TL;DR:
- The Danish Ministry for Digitalisation tested Collabora Office starting in 2025 as part of an initiative to explore digital sovereignty and reduce reliance on a single vendor.
- Engineers integrated the software into cBrain’s F2 platform used across ministries, but the test was halted when the government merged the Digitalisation Ministry into the Ministry of Research and Education in June 2026.
- Collabora Productivity clarified that the initiative was strictly an evaluation rather than a planned full replacement of Microsoft Office, and the technical integration was not rejected.
Initial media reports published at the end of October claimed that the Danish government had abandoned Collabora Office and returned exclusively to Microsoft Office, Punto Informatico reported. Collabora Productivity, a British firm developing the LibreOffice-based productivity suite, subsequently clarified that the deployment was an exploratory test rather than an official replacement project.
The Danish Ministry for Digitalisation launched the evaluation initiative in 2025 to assess alternative productivity tools in the interest of digital sovereignty. According to the software house, the primary objective was not to completely displace Microsoft Office, but to establish wider freedom of choice and decrease single-vendor dependence within public administration.
During the first phase of the evaluation, Collabora Office was integrated into the F2 platform managed by cBrain, which serves all Danish ministries. The technical integration successfully maintained compatibility with document formats generated in Microsoft Office. As the test progressed into its second phase, participating government employees flagged several software issues.
Engineering teams from Collabora addressed the reported glitches at no cost, preventing any expenditure of public funds. Before the evaluation reached its final assessment stage, the newly installed government taking office in June 2026 restructured ministerial departments by merging the Ministry for Digitalisation with the Ministry of Research and Education. The administrative shift led to the immediate suspension of the test.
Collabora Productivity emphasized that the trial was cut short before any formal determination regarding the software’s adequacy could be made, ruling out claims of an official rejection. The company noted that the successful integration into cBrain’s F2 infrastructure indicates the suite remains a viable alternative to Microsoft Office, and stated that discussions with other public sector authorities regarding digital sovereignty will continue.
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